


Pull

by the_chaotic_lesbian



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Self-Sacrifice, The Upside Down, aka cherry writes angst, could be seen as byeler or mileven, random bsed ud monster I came up with on the spot, will it have a sequel? maybe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 14:11:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21303401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_chaotic_lesbian/pseuds/the_chaotic_lesbian
Summary: Years after the Upside Down is closed off, Mike, Eleven, and Will feel a pull. Something calling them back, to make sure everything is closed and fine. They go into the Upside Down to check.They should not have done that.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper, Will Byers & Eleven | Jane Hopper & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Pull

**Author's Note:**

> I've written too much fluff for my title of angst queen to stick. I wrote this solely to satisfy my need to remedy that, which is why there's no plot build up. I apologize in advance. 
> 
> Enjoy!

They’re running. 

From what, Mike doesn’t know. He hasn’t looked. He can’t bring himself to look. He doesn’t even know what’s really  _ happening,  _ beyond  _ gate  _ and  _ opened  _ and  _ new.  _

The Upside Down is horrifying, really. Dark, freezing, with vines swallowing everything in sight. Dust floats in the air, and he chokes on it more often than not, eventually resorting to throwing a hand over his mouth. 

It’s scaring him, now, and he doesn’t think he can last long here. How Will did it… well… Mike doesn’t want to think about that. Not when they’re here. 

The gate opening had been a disaster waiting to happen. There was no warning, no monsters slithering out of the slit of reality. Nothing, but strange dreams, and the urge to go into the gate to check and make sure that everything is normal. Looking back on it, Mike now realizes that the urge to jump through the gate was not safe, and weird, and he doesn’t even know what he was thinking. 

But they’re here. And there’s something after them. 

“We can’t let it get to the gate,” El says, panting. They’ve been running for what feels like hours, her and him and Will together. They had been the ones to receive the tugging sensation to go throw themselves into the gate, and now they’re the ones that have to pay the price. “if it gets through…”

“Who knows what will happen,” Mike finishes, and he glances at the two people nervously. The pull… the pull had been so strong with just the three of them. What would happen if the entire world was pulled the same way? 

_ What would happen to them?  _

That’s not an answer Mike particularly wants to know. So, they run. 

The problem is, whatever is chasing them… whatever it was that pulled them towards the Upside Down… it’s fast. And hungry for something. Even now, Mike can vaguely feel the pull, the distance drawing closer and closer. 

At this rate, they aren’t going to make it back to the gate. Not without being taken, and who knows what the monster plans on doing? 

_ Come back,  _ the pull croons, a tugging sensation in the back of his head,  _ surrender to me. Your friends don’t need you.  _

He grits his teeth, runs faster. He can’t give in to that. Can’t do it. He knows better. 

“We’re never… gonna outrun it,” Will pants, voicing the thoughts Mike hadn’t been brave enough to say earlier, “it can’t get to the gate, we’re never going to make it in time.”

“Yes, we will,” Mike says confidently, his heart racing in his chest. They have to. The fate of Hawkins at sake aside, he couldn’t bear the idea of getting two of the people he cares about the most killed by this thing. 

“He’s right…” And Mike is spinning his head to look at El, who almost looks guilty, “even if we do outrun it… it won’t be enough time to close the gate. I’d need more time. That thing will get through before I could finish it at this rate.” 

It’s a terrifying thought, one that almost stops him completely. “We have to make it.” He says instead, each word coming out breathy from how hard he’s been running. He’s almost out of breath. It’s a miracle that he hasn’t tripped yet, with how inherently clumsy he is. 

They’re close. They’re so close, and not for the last time, Mike wishes the pull didn’t bring them out so far, that they had broken free sooner. Because El has a point, whether he wants to think about it or not. He can’t. He can’t he can’t he can’t-

Someone’s stopped running. 

Mike barely notices until he notices all at once, that he can only hear his and one other person’s footsteps. He turns his head, and El is right beside him, her chest heaving. 

“Will?” He twists his head around, heart pounding at the thought of Will tripping or being caught. He isn’t though - he’s standing facing the monster, completely still. “Will, what are you doing? We have to go!” 

Will turns his head, giving a sad smile. It’s all too familiar, and Mike is thrown back to being twelve years old, watching Eleven sacrifice herself to the demogorgon. He had been helpless to stop her then, but he can do something now, right? “Don’t you dare. Come on, we have to  _ run. _ ” He stops for a moment, staring at his oldest friend. 

“Someone has to distract the thing,” Will says, and he sounds so… resigned. “You two need each other, it has to be me.” 

Mike feels something akin to a stab wound in his chest, his breathing strained, “I need you too, Will. You can’t…”  _ you can’t leave me,  _ he’s trying to say, but the words lodge in his throat and he nearly chokes on them. 

El is also staring at Will, but her expression - through heartbreak and sorrow - shows understanding. More so than Mike’s. Mike refuses to accept this, he can’t, he needs his friend, he  _ needs- _

“We have to go,” she says quietly, and if her voice hadn’t of been shaking so badly, if there hadn’t been tears welling in her eyes, threatening to spill over… Mike would’ve yelled at her. 

The thing is almost to them, though, and Mike can see it more clearly now. Dark and monstrous, almost a shadow but only big enough to be a person, not the gigantic thing that the Mind Flayer had been several years ago. It grins at them, and he shudders at the look. They do need to go. 

“Will, please,” he tries, and now his voice is shaking, trembling with the effort not to cry in agony, “please…” 

Will gives another sad smile, and then he turns back around. “Goodbye Mike,” he says quietly, and the echo of what Eleven had said to him almost makes him scream, “goodbye El. Tell my mom and brother I love them.” 

The tears are falling freely now, as the thing catches up, and El has already turned back around. She grabs his hand, squeezes it, and Mike takes one last look at his friend in agony before he turns around too, running once again.The gate is right there, right in sight, and Mike releases a bitter sob when he and El both tumble through it. The thing does not follow - whatever Will had done was enough to keep it distracted. 

“Mike…” El whispers, now that they’re free. They’re free, but Will’s still in there, and closing the gate off is going to make it that much more  _ real.  _

(He never thought that he’d have to choose between the world and his best friend.) 

Mike squeezes his eyes shut, tears tracking down his cheeks. He feels a weight heavy as stones settle into his chest, sinking lower and lower with each passing second. “Close it,” he whispers, and he releases another sob, bringing his arm to his eyes. El is crying too, looking just as distressed as he is. “Close it.” 

El closes it. 

  
  
  



End file.
